Sunday, October 2, 2016

- Dr. Urjit Patel (Chairman of MPC) was appointed as the RBI Governor effective September 4, 2016. In his earlier role, he was the Deputy Governor of the RBI in charge of monetary policy amongst other responsibilities. Dr. Patel chaired the Expert Committee to Revise and Strengthen the Monetary Policy Framework. Dr. Patel has also served at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He was on deputation from the IMF to the Reserve Bank during 1996-1997, and in that capacity he provided advice on development of the debt market, banking sector reforms, pension fund reforms, and evolution of the foreign exchange market. He was a Consultant to the Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs), Government of India, from 1998 to 2001. Dr. Patel has worked closely with several central and state government high level committees, including the Task Force on Direct Taxes (Kelkar Committee), the High Level Expert Group for Reviewing the Civil & Defense Services Pension System, the Prime Minister's Task Force on Infrastructure, the Group of Ministers on Telecom Matters, the Committee on Civil Aviation Reforms and the Ministry of Power's Expert Group on State Electricity Boards. Dr. Patel has several publications in the areas of Indian macroeconomics, monetary policy, public finance, the Indian financial sector, international trade, and regulatory economics. Dr. Patel has a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University, an M. Phil from University of Oxford and a B. Sc. from the University of London.

- Mr R. Gandhi was appointed Deputy Governor, RBI on April 3, 2014 and has been with the RBI for over 33 years. He currently has the responsibilities of Economics and Policy Research, Monetary Policy, Foreign Exchange management, debt management amongst other departments. He has expertise and experience in varied fields which include, payment systems and information technology, financial markets (money, securities, forex and capital market) operations and regulation, currency operations and management, personnel and human resources management, industrial credit and international banking. He had a three-year secondment to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). He has also been the head of two regional offices of the Reserve Bank and held charge as the Director of the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad. He was the Executive Assistant to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for three years. He was also a Reserve Bank nominee on the Board of Directors of four public sector banks (at different points in time) for five years. He has been associated with various committees, working groups and task forces. Mr Gandhi has a Master's degree in Economics from the Annamalai University, in Tamil Nadu, India. He also has post graduate level certificates in Management Information System from The American University, Washington DC, USA and in Capital Market from the City University of New York, New York, USA.

- Dr Michael Patra has been the Executive Director, RBI since 2014 and has been with the RBI for over 30 years. He is in-charge of the Department of Economic and Policy Research and Monetary Policy Department (including Forecasting and Modelling Unit). He has been a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Sri Lanka at the IMF. He is an accomplished researcher with various publications in national and international journals. Dr Patra is a Fellow of the Harvard University where he undertook post-doctoral research in the area of financial stability. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

- Dr Chetan Ghate is the Professor at Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi and in his previous roles has taught at University of Sydney and the Colorado College in the US. He was a member of the Urjit Patel Committee to revise and strengthen the Monetary Policy Framework. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee on monetary policy. He was also RBI Chair Professor of Macroeconomics in ICRIER (2012-2013). His specialisations include economic growth and development, political economy, trade and monetary and fiscal policy in developing and emerging market economies. Dr. Ghate has a Ph.D from Claremont Graduate School, California.

- Dr Pami Dua is the Professor and Head of Department of Economics at Delhi School of Economics. She has been associated with the Delhi School of Economics since 1996 prior to which she has taught in the University of Connecticut (1987-1998) and Wayne State University (1987). Dr Dua has also served as the Vice President of the Indian Econometric Society, Senior Research Scholar at Economic Cycle Research Institute, New York, visiting Research Associate at Center for International Business Cycle Research, Columbia University and visiting Faculty Fellow at Yale University. Her specialisations include Business cycle analysis, Macroeconomics, Econometrics and Forecasting. She has written several publications in these areas. Dr. Dua has a Ph.D and M.Sc in Economics from London School of Economics (LSE) and B.A. (Hons) Economics from University of Delhi.

- Dr Ravindra Dholakia is on the faculty of Economics at IIM Ahmedabad since 1985 and has also taught at the European Management Institute (ESCP-EAP), Paris from 2002 to 2005. He has been an instrumental member in the policy making and evaluation bodies for the government. He chaired a Committee on Cost Saving and Resource Use Optimization in Air India, appointed by Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. He has served as a member of the High Level Committees on Public Expenditure Management (2009-10), Savings and Investment Estimation (Jan 2008- Mar 2009), Sixth Central Pay Commission (2006 - 08), Restructuring of the State PSUs (2004-08), Public Debt Management Committee (2005-06), and Gujarat State Public Finance Reform Committee (1998-2000). He has carried out numerous consulting assignments in the private and public sector companies in India and has worked for the international organizations like WHO, UN, World Bank and Hewlett Foundation. He was also President of the Indian Health Economics and Policy Association during 2012-13. Dr Dholakia has a Ph.D and M.A in Economics from Baroda University and Post-Doctorate from University of Toronto.

Monetary Policy Framework

The new monetary policy regime will target the headline CPI inflation rate in a band of 4% (+/-2%) and the target will remain fixed for next five years. In case the RBI fails to achieve this target for three consecutive quarters, it would have to submit a report to the central government stating the reasons for failure to achieve the inflation target; remedial actions proposed to be taken by RBI; and an estimate of the time-period within which the inflation target shall be achieved pursuant to timely implementation of proposed remedial actions.

The Monetary Policy Committee will a six member body with three RBI members and three government appointed members. The RBI members would be the Governor (as Chairman of MPC), Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy, and senior RBI official. The government nominated members of the MPC are chosen for four years without re-appointment. With the formation of the MPC, the decision on policy rate (repo rate) will be through voting. The casting vote (in case of a tie) will be with the RBI Governor. In the current regime, the RBI Governor decided on the policy after deliberations and consultations with both internal and external experts.

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